Early morning fire at Brammo quickly suppressed by fire sprinklers

Sunday

Jun 30, 2013 at 3:25 PMJun 30, 2013 at 3:30 PM

Fire alarms sounded at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday alerting Ashland Fire and Rescue to a fire at Brammo Inc. headquarters at 550 Clover Lane, Ashland. Two fire engines responded, and the first crew at the scene observed smoke and water pouring out of a window, according to Ashland Fire Battalion Chief Dana Sallee. Crews ventilated smoke from the building and cleaned up water from the sprinkler activation. The sprinkler heads only activated in the area of the fire, suppressing it to the room of origin and keeping it from spreading throughout the building holding $2.5 million worth of equipment, said Sallee. According to Sallee the fire started in the company's battery room where a battery was attached to a diagnostic machine or charger, which is how fire crews believe the fire started, although the cause is still under investigation. No one was in the building at the time, and there were no injuries.

Fire alarms sounded at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday alerting Ashland Fire and Rescue to a fire at Brammo Inc. headquarters at 550 Clover Lane, Ashland. Two fire engines responded, and the first crew at the scene observed smoke and water pouring out of a window, according to Ashland Fire Battalion Chief Dana Sallee. Crews ventilated smoke from the building and cleaned up water from the sprinkler activation. The sprinkler heads only activated in the area of the fire, suppressing it to the room of origin and keeping it from spreading throughout the building holding $2.5 million worth of equipment, said Sallee. According to Sallee the fire started in the company's battery room where a battery was attached to a diagnostic machine or charger, which is how fire crews believe the fire started, although the cause is still under investigation. No one was in the building at the time, and there were no injuries.

"The machine hooked up to the battery is estimated at $70,000 in value, and there was another on one in the room," said Sallee, estimating that those two machines, plus damage to dry wall and carpet could bring the total cost of the damage from the fire to about $200,000.

"It's amazing how little damage was caused. The sprinkler system saved this building," said Sallee, who added that there are over 250 businesses in Ashland with fire sprinklers installed.

Fire crews were finished cleaning up the fire by about 6:30 a.m. Sallee estimates that the battery room at Brammo will be back up and running anytime between Monday and Wednesday.